


Then Do I Quiver and Thunders Moan

by misbegotten



Category: Lewis (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 22:18:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9789473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misbegotten/pseuds/misbegotten
Summary: Pity the poor thunder, James thinks.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Title and quotes from Albert Pike's "Lightning".

It rains all the time, of course. Oxford is not immune to dismal damp. A proper thunderstorm seems rare, though, and as a crack of lightning illuminates the sky, James cups a hand around his cigarette and continues to get thoroughly soaked.

It's 4 AM and Robbie is sleeping the sleep of the just inside. James had been tossing and turning, though, and finally slipped into trousers and out for a fag. He's having little luck with the cigarette in the wet, but the electricity in the air suits him. It reminds him of a poem, as many things do.

I coil myself like a quivering snake,  
Invisible, on a chaotic lake

That's how he feels tonight. Quivering, chaotic. And perhaps a little invisible. Standing, shivering, outside Robbie's flat is probably not the wisest move, as they are not advertising the current status as a couple. But at 4 AM in a thunderstorm nobody is about to be shocked by the old copper's partner huddling bare chested in the rain.

Well, one person perhaps. "Come inside, you daft fool," Robbie says gently from behind him. He's sleep tousled and irresistible, so James pinches out the cigarette and carries the butt in, depositing it carefully in the tin just inside the back door for that purpose. Robbie refuses to get a proper ashtray. Perhaps he thinks the inconvenience will persuade James to quit. Maybe he's right. James is starting to feel the pull in his chest when he rows. He knows that the cigarettes will take their toll someday. And life somehow seems more precious with Robbie in it. He will almost certainly outlive Robbie, lest a villain does him in or some accident befalls him, but every day with Robbie is to be cherished and it seems unfair to risk anything that might shorten their time together.

Like pneumonia, he thinks wryly as water drips from the hollows of his skin. Robbie, bless him, has a towel at the ready, and he dries James' hair with gentle strokes. His chest is next; Robbie pats James' skin dry carefully until the towel is sodden, then he drops the towel and wraps his arms around James instead. Robbie's arms are cool but his t-shirt is warm against James' chest. James' wet trousers are starting to sag at his hips, and Robbie chuckles. "Daft fool," he repeats, and releases James so he can pull at the offending clothing. He undoes the flies and the fabric pools around James' feet like a puddle. James thinks absently that he ought to hang the trousers to dry, but Robbie's hands are on his bare hips now and every other fibre of his being is concentrating on the path of those blunt fingers across his body.

James' cock stirs eagerly as Robbie's hands trace a path across the sharp edge of his hips, stopping for a moment in the dip between them and his rib cage, then onward and downward. Robbie edges a thumb through the tuft of his pubic hair, coming tantalizing close to touching James where he so desperately wants to be touched, but then backs off, roaming instead back up James' lean form to his chest.

Robbie pokes him with a forefinger. "You need a hot shower."

"I need you," James says simply, and watches with pleasure as Robbie's face melts into a fond smile.

"I can arrange that," Robbie says and leans forward to kiss James. It is eternity, that kiss. It is the lightning outside shaking in James' veins, illuminating the heavens and James' want.

I am eternal, yet change forever;  
I wander always, and dissipate never

That is his need for Robbie. Persistent, wandering along his charged skin and never ending, even at the moment of release.

Robbie takes James' hand in his and pulls James toward the bedroom. Outside, the thunder moans inconsolably. It has no Robbie to warm it, inside and out. Pity the poor thunder, James thinks as he sinks into Robbie's arms. He, at least, is content.


End file.
